Sleepy Hollow Skirmish
Sleepy Hollow Skirmish is the twelfth episode of the eighth season of Once Upon a Time, and the 167th episode overall. It was preceded by Eternal Darkness and followed by Man's Best Friend. Plot Past A handsome yet cowardly and clumsy man named Ichabod Crane moves to the village known as Sleepy Hollow somewhere in the Enchanted Forest. He becomes a teacher, and gains a good reputation for his comical personality and dashing looks. Brom Bones, the “local hero” who is actually quite sinister becomes jealous, especially when Ichabod meets Brom’s crush, Katrina van Tassel. As Halloween approaches, Ichabod and Brom are individually invited to a party hosted by the van Tussels. Ichabod goes horse riding through the woods, where he bumps into Brom walking. Brom tells him that Katrina would never choose a lousy schoolteacher. The men become sworn enemies. In the days coming up to Halloween, the Evil Queen rides through Sleepy Hollow to ask its citizens if they know where Snow White is. Brom lies and announces that Ichabod knows, although he denies this. The Evil Queen confronts him and threatens him with torture, but Ichabod proposes a deal; if the Evil Queen kills Brom, then Ichabod will capture Snow White for her. The next day, Ichabod prepares to leave town to avoid his deal with the Evil Queen, but when Brom torments him, Ichabod decides to go through with the deal. He gets a bow and arrow and rides off on his horse Gunpowder to find Snow White. The Evil Queen watches him through the Magic Mirror. Ichabod instead manages to miraculously knock Prince Charming unconscious, and the Evil Queen collects him. However, she backs out on their deal, stating that he was supposed to get Snow White. She leaves a vengeful Ichabod; later, Snow White saves Prince Charming. On Halloween night, Ichabod attends the van Tussel party, where Brom mocks him for not capturing Snow White. Ichabod attacks Brom violently and unexpectedly, forcing Katrina to have to kick him out of the party. As Ichabod prepares to leave, Brom tells him of the tale of the Headless Horseman, a mystical being that appears every Halloween night in the woods to find someone and steak their head for his own. Ichabod does not worry as he disbelieves Brom, but as he rides through the woods the Headless Horseman (and his horse Noxious) indeed encounters him. During the skirmish, Gunpowder dies. Everyone is worried when Ichabod mysteriously doesn’t return home that night, but the following morning he appears in town. Everyone is curious as to what happened, but nobody asks him any questions, and Ichabod leaves Sleepy Hollow. Present In Storybrooke, Evanora tells Maui of her intention to team up and kill Zelena. Moana disagrees, aware of Zelena’s redemption. When Maui notices Wish Zelena with them, he turns on her, but Evanora reveals that she’s a “different Zelena”. Moana uses magic to take Wish Regina’s heart and she is freed from Evanora’s control. Now even with Moana, Wish Regina teleports herself away, still paranoid that the Dark Curse was stopped. Meanwhile, Ichabod Crane, who had relocated to 19th Century France, comes searching for his friend; Raoul de Chagney. They reunite, where Raoul tells him that he left to help Zelena and Glinda find Erik in hopes that they can defeat Evanora. Zelena, Regina and Gideon go outside to discuss the Wish Villains, and spot Raoul and Ichabod. Raoul greets his friends, but Ichabod recognises Regina as the Evil Queen from his past and immediately distrusts her. The sisters reveal that Regina is the Good Queen, but Ichabod isn’t so forgiving. At Wish Regina’s Palace, Wish Regina manifests into the main room and rushes downstairs. However, she’s a moment too late and Carabosse exits with Caradoc by her side. Carabosse greets Wish Regina mockingly, who flees before she can be killed. She appears at Wish Zelena’s farmhouse to warn her that a new level of evil is coming. The following day is Halloween, much to Lucy’s excitement. However, there is no celebrating for the heroes; Moana meets up with Regina, Zelena, Gideon, Alice and Robin and tells them that Wish Regina seemed incredibly worried - more worried than she should have been that the Dark Curse failed. She also warns Zelena that for some reason, Maui wants to kill her. As Moana leaves to go back to the hotel, she is kidnapped. As evening falls, Carabosse and Caradoc stand where Maui was resurrected at Storybrooke Heritage Park. They reveal Moana, held hostage as the “volunteer” to bring someone back again. Caradoc points out that it’ll only be temporarily, but Carabosse says that it doesn’t matter. Moana has no choice but to watch as Charon summons another soul; it’s the Headless Horseman come to torment Storybrooke. The two teleport away, leaving Moana to rush to her friends and warn them of two new villains to face, but right now the Headless Horseman is in town. Regina, Zelena and Moana rush to find Raoul and Ichabod; the latter may know how to defeat it. Ichabod tells them to leave it to him; on Main Street, he reveals himself to the Headless Horseman. The heroes watch in terror as Ichabod lights a torch and tries to stake it through the horse’s heart; this fails, unlike his previous encounter. Regina steps in to help, and they work together in succeeding. When the Headless Horseman is banished back to the Underworld, Regina and Ichabod apologise to each other and make amends. However, now they know that there are two villains in town that Wish Regina was actually trying to *keep locked up* by casting the Dark Curse... Characters (in order of appearance) * Wicked Witch of the East * Maui * Moana * Wicked Witch of the West (Wish Realm) * Evil Queen (Wish Realm) * Ichabod Crane (first appearance) * Gunpowder (first appearance) * Katrina van Tassel (first appearance) * Brom Bones (first appearance) * Raoul de Chagney * Wicked Witch of the West * Evil Queen * Gideon * Carabosse * Caradoc * Magic Mirror * Prince Charming (no lines) * Lucy Mills * Henry Mills * Cinderella (New Enchanted Forest) * Alice Jones * Robin Hood, Jr. * Headless Horseman (first appearance) * Noxious (first appearance) * Charon Timeline * The past events where the Evil Queen hires Ichabod take place after Aladdin leaves Agrabah in Street Rats and before Rapunzel escapes the tower in One Little Tear. Category:Season 8 episodes Category:Once Upon a Time episodes